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| Home Front: Politix |
| Sole surviving son denied health benefits post-Iraq |
| 2008-04-17 |
| AFAIAC, this is a completely honorable involuntary discharge. He should get his benefits. The rules are broken and should be fixed immediately. There should also be an easy way to recognize and remedy cases where the rules are broken. Forced to leave the combat zone after his two brothers died in the Iraq war, Army Spc. Jason Hubbard faced another battle once he returned home: The military cut off his family's health care, stopped his G.I. educational subsidies and wanted him to repay his sign-up bonus. It wasn't until Hubbard petitioned his local congressman that he was able to restore some of his benefits. Now that congressman, Rep. Devin Nunes, is leading an effort to pass a bill that would ensure basic benefits to all soldiers who are discharged under an Army policy governing sole surviving siblings and children of soldiers killed in combat. The rule is a holdover from World War II meant to protect the rights of service people who have lost a family member to war. "I felt as if in some ways I was being punished for leaving even though it was under these difficult circumstances," Hubbard told The Associated Press. "The situation that happened to me is not a one-time thing. It's going to happen to other people, and to have a law in place is going to ease their tragedy in some way." Hubbard, 33, and his youngest brother, Nathan, enlisted while they were still grieving for their brother, Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Hubbard, who was 22 when he was killed in a 2004 bomb explosion in Ramadi. At their request, the pair were assigned to the same unit, the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, and deployed to Iraq the next year. In August, 21-year-old Cpl. Nathan died when his Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Kirkuk. Jason was part of the team assigned to remove his comrades' bodies from the wreckage. Hubbard accompanied his little brother's body on a military aircraft to Kuwait, then on to California. He kept steady during Nathan's burial at Clovis Cemetery, standing in dress uniform between his younger brothers' graves as hundreds sobbed in the heat. But Hubbard broke his silence when he found his wife, pregnant with their second child, had been cut off from the transitional health care the family needed to ease back to civilian life after he was discharged in October. "This is a man who asked for nothing and gave a lot," said Nunes, R-Calif., who represents Hubbard's hometown of Clovis, a city of 90,000 next to Fresno. "Jason is one person who obviously has suffered tremendously and has given the ultimate sacrifice. One person is too many to have this happen to." Hubbard went to Nunes, who began advocating for the former soldier in December, after hearing the Army was demanding that he repay $6,000 from his enlistment bonus and was denying him up to $40,000 in educational benefits under the GI bill. After speaking with Army Secretary Pete Geren, Nunes got the repayment waived, and a military health policy restored for Hubbard's wife. But the policy mandated that she be treated at a nearby base, and doctors at the Lemoore Naval Air Station warned that the 45-mile trip could put her and the fetus in danger. Hubbard said doctors offered alternative treatment at a hospital five hours away. Meantime, Hubbard and his 2-year-old son went without any coverage for a few months. The Hubbard Act, introduced Wednesday, would for the first time detail the rights of sole survivors, and extend to them a number of benefits already offered to other soldiers honorably discharged from military service. The bill — co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. — would waive payback of their enlistment bonuses, allow them to participate in G.I. educational programs, give them separation pay and access to transitional health care. "I'm honored to be a part of this process, and although it's me that is involved directly, it's more than that. There are numerous other people out here who have been discharged under this sole survivor code," Hubbard said in a phone interview from Washington, where he joined lawmakers who introduced the bill Wednesday. The Department of Defense has identified 52 sole survivors since the Sept. 11 attacks. Meanwhile, Hubbard, his wife Linnea and his son Elijah, have permanent health coverage now that he is once again working as a Fresno County sheriff's deputy, the job he left in 2004 to serve in Iraq. The Army will adopt to any changes in policy springing from the legislation, Army spokesman Maj. Nathan Banks said. "Foremost the Army itself sympathizes with him for the loss of his brothers," Banks said. "We will do everything within our means to rectify this issue. He is still one of ours." Hubbard's father, Jeff, said that resolving the family's bureaucratic difficulties would provide some comfort, but would not help lessen their pain. "We're still very much deeply involved in a grieving process. We're pretty whacked," he said. "This doesn't relate back to the loss of our boys, it can't, but we would consider it a positive accomplishment." |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #13 Some paper bound pencil pushing desk pilot whose fat ass has never been outside of the air conditioning is probably the reason this happened. My mom faced the potential for that will all 4 of us boys deployed back in 91 (3 Army, 1 Navy). They actually pulled our 3rd in line brother back (Army) due to this during Desert Shield. Funny thing is he was a medic back at KKMC, the rest of us Combat Arms on the front (or behind it on the bad guy side). Thusosh, is that u Jonh Carry stuk in Irak? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-04-17 19:48 |
| #12 WHEN DEALING WITH OUR GOVERNMENT YOU HAVE TO EXPECT TO BE CHEATED,THEY DO NOTHING TO HELP AMERICANS ,YOU HAVE TO A NON AMERICAN THEN YOU GET EVERY THING FREE. OUR SERVICE PERSONAL COUNT FOR NOT MUCH, BUT THEN WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT. |
| Posted by: cchuckit14 2008-04-17 19:02 |
| #11 My condolences, Mrs.Whater Big Foot9989. Unfortunately, there are idiots everywhere, and someone always has to pay for their idiocy. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-04-17 18:44 |
| #10 I am writting to the Hubbard family. I truley think the U.S. Goverment is wrong for cutting the benefits to Army Spc. Jason Hubbard. Just because he was dicharged from the service. Are men and women put their lives on the line every day for us so we can be free. He did his duty and would still be doing it if his two brother was not killed in action doing their job to fight for FREEDOM. My heart goes out to the family and my thought are with the Hubbard Family |
| Posted by: Sandy 2008-04-17 18:16 |
| #9 screw american military they fucked me after the 2 years i gave them in veitnan i would advise young people to get schooling and never join no military service never ever this dam half breed country is not worth your life |
| Posted by: Thusosh Stalin3089 2008-04-17 18:15 |
| #8 Could Mr. Truth, our schizophreic friend from Long Beach with the many names, be visiting? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-04-17 17:15 |
| #7 My husband was a veteran. The care he received from the V.A. was a joke, and not in a funny way.The red tape is unrelenting. Just a few days before his death of CANCER the V.A. in Houston wanted to send him to an AIDS hospice hospital. If they had of treated his cancer sooner rather than sending him home with a wellness guide maybe he would not be dead now. I think all politicians should have the V.A. for their medical care without anyone really knowing who they are, so they get a taste of just how our vets are treated. I am not surprised at this injustice. The people who make these decisions are working with a major brain deficit! |
| Posted by: Whater Big Foot9989 2008-04-17 17:13 |
| #6 does any of this really suprise any one that reads it?Here is a man willing to give all"in the fight on terrorism" and being drug through the red tape so the government can save a dime to build back the countries we have just pummulled ,,or hand it over to another recip. of welfare that hasn't done "jack" for our country. There should be no question over whats right it is common sense """"fix it and quickly"""cause we owe it to him.Instead of ,,,Once again lets run him through the wringer after loosing his brothers,just coming back and tring to get re adjusted from a hostile action.Serving, what he calls his country but apparently the country doesn't call him there soldier. To many times you see stupid stuff like this and wonder why anyone would sign up for the military. Used to be young men felt as though they wanted to be a part of this great countries military. But all to often now ,it is a, down on the luck I need a job, and they are making me all kinds of promises thing, basically the same as working for a typical employer "WOW lets compare working at Mcdonalds to serving the military".Its sad, and my prayers go out to him and his family that they don't end up doopt like so many do because of red tape. I would love to see a pole of how many military men and women during and after being in the military have felt like the government has been totally fair to them and their families and it was a good experience in the total overveiw |
| Posted by: Harcourt Thrush9376 2008-04-17 17:11 |
| #5 Gee, now why would I think a REMF was involved in the original decision? I'm such a cynic. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-04-17 16:34 |
| #4 Sounds like typical bureaucratic blindness by some low level paper pusher. "Just the rules" Now, imagine these same people running your healthcare? Sounds like fun right? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-04-17 16:33 |
| #3 Thus it has been since the tragedy of the five Sullivan brothers in World War I. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-04-17 14:36 |
| #2 I completely agree, this was the Military's decision to terminate his enlistment, not his. So there should be none of this bullshit about "Not fulfulling the terms of his enlistmen". In wartime the length of enlistment is determined solely by the military anyway. Not the individual. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-04-17 13:42 |
| #1 I can understand removing a sole surviving son from combat. However, if he wished to stay in the service, there are certainly lots of Stateside jobs available. |
| Posted by: Rambler in California 2008-04-17 12:43 |